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Nagurski went both ways, in the backfield and on defense. Owen Marecic joins the club.

With the onset of fall camp comes the annual rite of fall passage: coaches across America, madly plotting and scheming, entertain the idea of utilizing their top talent — gasp —  on both sides of the ball. This type of talk is reserved for two types of players, by and large. The first is this year’s prized recruit, whose high school highlight tape, if it can be believed, indicated all-American ability as a wide receiver, cornerback, kick returner, what have you. This is more common; perhaps some coaches use this promise as a recruiting ploy — we’ll give you an opportunity no other school can offer. This scenario is also suggested for athletic upperclassmen, usually a defender moving to the offensive side of the ball, less often vice versa. This talk starts now, ends, oh, by Sept. 1.

The discussion continues at Stanford. Jim Harbaugh has remained committed to playing potential all-American fullback Owen Marecic both in his customary spot and at inside linebacker in the Cardinal’s new 3-4 base set. Yes, a fullback going both ways. The last fullback who did so? Bronko Nagurski?

Harbaugh isn’t playing lip service to the idea: as of today, Marecic sits atop the depth chart both at on offense and at inside linebacker. Will this stand? There’s no reason, based upon what Harbaugh has stated throughout the spring and summer, that Marecic won’t pull double duties.

On the offensive side of the ball, Marecic is one of the finest fullbacks in the country. He’s a three-time honorable mention all-conference pick, largely for the job he has done opening up holes for Stanford’s running backs –Toby Gerhart, most notably. Unlike his Pac-10 neighbor, U.S.C.’s Stanley Havili, Marecic is not asked to do much more than that. To be fair, Marecic is a solid receiver: he finished last fall with 8 receptions for 132 yards and a touchdown, though he added only 15 yards on the ground.

As for Marecic’s future on defense, the senior does bring experience at linebacker to the table. He started in the middle in Stanford’s November win over Oregon last fall, as well as serving in certain short-yardage and goal line packages throughout the season. Yes, he’s a fullback first, linebacker second. But it’s not as if Marecic is a blank slate, a player only now learning the intricacies of the defensive side of the ball heading into his senior season.

Nevertheless, what does this say about Stanford’s defense? Well, it certainly makes a statement about a lack of depth in the front seven, for starters. In a perfect world, a player this important to the health of the running game — and thereby the health of the offense altogether — would focus on that primary goal, not spreading himself too thin.

If Stanford had remained in the 4-3, its base set under former defensive coordinator Andy Buh, Marecic’s services would not be needed — at least to this degree. The senior would have remained a piece of the puzzle on defense, just not in the starting lineup. In Stanford was to remain in last year’s defensive alignment, sophomore Shayne Skov would start in the middle, flanked by junior Thomas Keiser and sophomore Chase Thomas.

The new look will ask more of Marecic, of course. Stanford could also turn to senior Chike Amajoyi, should Marecic tire — which he’s sure to do. Amajoyi has made 17 starts over the last three years, including the first six games of 2009. This type of experienced depth will help.

Yes, Marecic’s two-way move makes a statement about the Stanford defense: in a perfect world, your all-American fullback would not also be your starting inside linebacker — not in this day and age, obviously. This plan also makes a statement about Marecic, however: he’s a superb athlete, even if a fullback, and perhaps the key to Stanford’s performance on both sides of the ball.

The Division II Network Permits Division II Student-Athletes the Opportunity to Define Themselves

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - Division II student-athletes now have a powerful new way to tell their story.

A new component to the Division II Network – D2sa.org – will permit Division II student-athletes the opportunity to define themselves and to interact in a way that has never been done in the NCAA.

The site, which will act as a complement to the already-existent Division II game-environment and community-engagement sites, will encourage student-athlete blogging and will also facilitate discussions on important matters such as legislation and fund-raising for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

The new site is highly visual, relying extensively on photo galleries and a videoplayer. Student-athletes will be encouraged to contribute to the site through stories, blogs, photos and videos. They also will have an opportunity to participate in polls.

“The student-athletes told us that this is what they wanted,” said Division II consultant Jill Willson, “so this is a website that really is by student-athletes and for student-athletes.”

Willson said the prototype was vetted with various student-athlete groups, including the national SAAC. It also received positive reviews from Division II sports information directors and the Division II Management Council.

Willson said that athletics administrators in the membership soon will be receiving a postcard promoting the site. They are encouraged to share the information with student-athletes at preseason meetings this fall.

NCAA Division II is one of three membership divisions at the National Collegiate Athletic Association, a volunteer organization comprising more than 1,200 institutions, conferences and affiliated organizations.

Division II is a group of institutions, conferences and affiliated organizations that serve more than 75,000 student-athletes nationwide, including Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. The emphasis for the student-athlete experience in Division II is a comprehensive program of learning and development. The Division II approach provides growth opportunities through academic achievement, learning in high-level athletic competition and the development of societal attitudes in service to the community. The balance and integration of these different areas of learning provide Division II student-athletes with a path to graduation while cultivating a variety of skills and knowledge for life ahead.

For additional information on Division II efforts, visit www.ncaa.org.

Interesting in developing games for the Windows Phone 7? David Rousset has just finished a complete series of blog posts explaining a demo he’s built around Silverlight 4, Windows Azure and XNA on Windows Phone 7 :

• Silverlight 4 XNA Platformer Level Editor for Windows Phone 7: overview (1/4) where you’ll find a video showing the final result in action as well as the SL4 application to play with
• SL4 XNA Platformer Level Editor for WP7: details on the Silverlight App (2/4) explaining the details on the SL4 app and the source code of the SL app to download
• SL4 XNA Platformer Level Editor for WP7: Azure storage (3/4) explaining the details on the Windows Azure storage
• SL4 XNA Platformer Level Editor for WP7: the XNA game (4/4) explaining how David’s modified the XNA Platformer game and the source code of the game to download

Morales, MacLachlan, and Jacobs Named ITA Scholar-Athletes

SAINT LEO, Fla. – The Saint Leo men’s tennis team and Head Coach James Bryce received outstanding news recently, as they were selected as one of 19 Division II teams to earn ITA All-Academic Team honors. In addition, a trio of Lions met the criteria to be named ITA Scholar Athletes as Jose Morales, Yves Jacobs, and Richard MacLachlan earned the distinct honor. In total, 125 Division II student-athletes etched their name onto the list.
 
Saint Leo joins Florida Southern and Rollins as the only three Sunshine State Conference school’s to make the list. In total, six Lions earned over a 3.20 GPA for the year.

The ITA All-Academic Team award is open to any ITA program that has a cumulative team grade point average of 3.20 or above (on a 4.00 scale). All eligible student-athletes whose names appear on the NCAA/NAIA/NJCAA/CA JUCO eligibility form and have competed in one or more varsity matches must average into the GPA for the current academic year (including fall 2009 and spring 2010).

On the individual side, the ITA recognized a trio of Lions for their academic achievement as Morales, Jacobs, and former Lion MacLachlan earned ITA Scholar-Athlete awards.

Individually, Morales, who is a Business Administration major, enjoyed a fantastic year academically for Saint Leo as he earned a 3.73 GPA. Athletically, the junior concluded 2009-10 with three wins with in SSC doubles action. 

Jacobs, a Computer Information Systems major, collected four wins as a sophomore and posted the highest grade-point-average of any tennis player at 3.82.

Meanwhile, MacLachlan, who accumulated enough credits to graduate as a junior, closed the season with 19 combined wins and an incredible 3.75 GPA in International Business.

In order to earn ITA Scholar-Athlete status a player must meet the following criteria: 1.) be a varsity letter winner, 2.) have a grade point average of at least 3.50 (on a 4.00 scale) for the current academic year, and 3.) have been enrolled at their present school for at least 2 semesters (including freshman thorough senior year)

On the academic accomplishments, head coach James Bryce was quoted as saying, “It is very rewarding to see these student-athletes recognized for their academic achievements.” He continued, “Each member of the team continuously puts a great amount of effort and time into their studies and to see them succeed and be recognized for it is quite an accomplishment,”

Saint Leo will begin fall competition in the coming months.

Anaheim announced yesterday that they had signed Notre Dame forward Kyle Palmieri to a three-year entry level deal.

Similar to Nick Leddy last week, Palmieri was extremely impressive at Anaheim’s prospect camp earlier this summer, and the Ducks were very close to signing him then. Another impressive performance at the US World Juniors summer camp currently going on may have been the tipping point for Anaheim signing him.

Palmieri is a difficult player to assess. There’s never been any question he’s supremely talented, but he had a fairly average 17 points last season, especially considering he got pretty regular power play time. There’s also been numerous off-ice incidents throughout his career, including being arrested earlier this summer.

On the plus side for NCAA hockey, now 13 months removed from the 2009 NHL Draft, I think this helps put a fairly convincing end to the “fastest route” meme the CHL likes to use. Of the seven first round draft picks from that year that followed the NCAA route, five of them–Nick Leddy, Louis Leblanc, Jordan Schroeder, Kyle Palmieri, and John Moore, whose only Jr. A experience was in the USHL prior to signing with Columbus–have already signed NHL contracts. A sixth, BC’s Chris Kreider, turned down an NHL contract from the New York Rangers this summer, as well. Those are pretty good numbers for a year when there wasn’t an NCAA player selected in the top half of the first round.